Does Ramadan ceasefire still hold?

The 40-day ceasefire during the holy month of Ramadan which began on July 10 has come to an abrupt end after the shooting of a suspected militant and the killing of a Muslim religious teacher of ustaz on July 15-16 respectively.

          The above opinion was voiced by a Narathiwat-based separatist sympathizer.  Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the sympathizer said that the ceasefire was strictly observed by the government and the separatists for the first four days since the Ramada and the separatists were satisfied with the situation.

          After that however, he said that government forces started conducting raids of suspected hideouts of the separatists and making arrests of some suspects.  He charged that such activities went against conditions in the ceasefire agreement which ban government forces from undertaking offensive operations with the exception of activities to maintain peace and order against criminal activities.

          The last straw came on July 15 when  Toleb Sapa-ing, a suspect on security-related charges, was shot and seriously wounded, said the sympathizer.  This was followed by the fatal shooting of an ustaz,  Mayahali Ali, in Bannang Sata district of Yala on the following day.

          "We regard these incidents a provocation by the government which does not want the unrest problem to be resolved.  They (the government) started hitting us first so we have to respond in kind.  The good atmosphere which lasted four days has gone.  Everything is finished and we are ready to strike again, probably even harder," he said.

          The sympathizer disclosed that the field separatists had sent their men to observe the peace talks in Kualal Lumpur between the Barisan Revolusi Nasional and the government and have been keeping a close watch on the government whether it will strictly observe the Ramadan ceasefire or not.

          He said that the observation of the peace talks had enabled core leaders of the separatist groups to instruct their armed men to observe the ceasefire for two weeks which will be extended to 40 days if the government does not break the ceasefire.

          He said that the first four days of the holy month of Ramadan were very peaceful and several separatists could manage to return home to visit their families and to visit the masjids to pray like the other Muslims.

          But this was already a history as the situation had changed for worse with the provocative actions by government forces, he alleged.

          Violence resumed after the two shooting incidents as separatists launched reprisal attacks against both government forces and civilians.  These included a roadside bomb attack against a teacher’s protection unit killing two female teachers and wounding four others, including two policemen in Janae district of Narathiwat on July 24; the execution-style killing of a couple in Takbai district of Narathiwat and the fatal shooting of two policemen in Janae district on July 23.

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Caption : The roadside bomb attacked against a teacher’s protection unit killing two female teachers in this car.

Thanks : Photo from Pattani volunteer rescue.